Common Types of Coverage

Here are some items you’ll need to consider when shopping for boat insurance in Colorado:

Navigational Area: Know where you are covered in the water. Some companies offer protection that covers you up to 75 miles from the U.S. coastline; into Canadian coastal or inland waters; and into the Pacific coastal waters of Mexico. In California, Florida and Oregon, additional coverage area can be purchased.

Agreed Value Coverage: Boats depreciate just like automobiles. Actual cash value policies can make it difficult to replace a boat that’s been stolen or destroyed. Agreed value means that if your boat is a total loss you will get the value you insured it for, minus any deductible.

Liability: Like car insurance, personal liability coverage provides coverage to other boaters and boat owners in the event you are at-fault for an accident on the water. This coverage will pay to repair or replace the property of someone else as well as for their medical care, lost wages and other costs incurred as a result of a boating accident for which you are at-fault.

Medical Payments: Medical payments coverage will pay for the cost of needed care that is the result of a boating accident. This coverage is available from $500 to $10,000 and covers you, your passengers, and even your water skiers/tubers, regardless of who is at-fault.

Physical Damage Coverage: Physical damage coverage pays for the cost to repair or replace your watercraft, its motor, any permanently attached equipment, and your trailer, if it is stolen or damaged.

Uninsured/Underinsured Watercraft Bodily Injury: Since boat coverage is not always mandatory, many boaters choose not to get insurance. If you are hit by an uninsured or underinsured boater, and you are injured, this type of coverage pays for medical treatment, lost wages, and other costs associated with the accident.

Fuel Spill Liability and Wreckage Removal: Should your boat sink or be seriously damaged, there is a chance that it could leak oil or fuel into the water. As the boat’s owner you are required by law to have this cleaned up, which can be time consuming and expensive.

Unattached Equipment Coverage: This pays to repair or replace equipment that isn’t permanently attached to your boat or personal watercraft, but is designed for use primarily on a boat. This includes items like lifesaving equipment, water skis, anchors, oars, fire extinguishers, tarps etc.

Emergency Assistance: The Emergency Assistance Package provides coverage for towing, labor and delivery of gas, oil or loaned battery if the watercraft is disabled while on the water.